I am the villain in the book

“I’ve come today to kill them all.”

As Wei Changtian casually uttered these words, You Wenzong's body trembled uncontrollably, as if he had heard a terrifying story that was both clumsy, amusing, and chilling.

Keep in mind that these are more than two hundred thousand martial artists who have attained the entry-level rank.

Even if Wei Changtian were a Third-Rank, or even a First-Rank, or even a True Immortal, he would absolutely not be able to make good on this statement.

So, what makes Wei Changtian dare to say such a thing?

What is his purpose?

“Young Master Wei.”

After a brief moment of stunned silence, You Wenzong stared intently at the man in black robes opposite him and said calmly, “This joke is not funny.”

“A joke?”

A nearly arrogant sneer surfaced on the corner of Wei Changtian's lips: “Lord You, I just said that every word I speak is true.”

“Oh? Then I wonder what Young Master plans to do?”

You Wenzong also revealed a hint of sarcasm: “Since Young Master can annihilate my army immediately, you can at least let me die knowing why, right?”

“Hahaha, of course.”

Wei Changtian laughed twice and walked step by step to a position only a step away from You Wenzong, causing the surrounding soldiers to instantly become highly tense.

However, neither of them looked at the yellow-armored soldiers who were clutching their weapons tightly.

“Lord You, haven’t you and Ning Yongnian both assumed that I set up an ambush at Niutou Mountain?”

“Tsk tsk, actually, you were very close in your guesses.”

“I did set up an ambush, but not at Niutou Mountain, but right here.”

“Here?!”

You Wenzong suddenly widened his eyes and suddenly looked into the distance at the faint, endless black line in the darkness.

Wei Changtian glanced at him, and then said with some emotion:

“To be honest, if you had really chosen to go via the Jinyuan line, then my plan would have been in vain.”

Suddenly, You Wenzong's expression turned cold, and he interrupted with a sneer: “Young Master Wei, there's no need to bluff here!”

“Before my army set out, it had already scouted the entire route, and there were no ambushes at all!”

“Moreover, your Shu army only has thirty thousand troops left. Even with the addition of tens of thousands of Li soldiers, it’s only a mere hundred thousand. How can you contend with my nearly three hundred thousand troops?!”

“Young Master Wei, do you really take me for a three-year-old child?!”

“...”

You Wenzong's voice suddenly rose an octave, and the words he spoke were also clearly transmitted to the ears of many people.

Noticing that the atmosphere between the two had suddenly become tense, several deputy generals had drawn their weapons, ready to rush into the encirclement to rescue him at any time.

Although they would most likely be too late by that time, they still had to show their attitude.

After all, no matter what, You Wenzong was the supervisor personally appointed by Ning Yongnian. It would be a bit unreasonable if he died just like that.

However, Wei Changtian still had no intention of taking action.

He just looked at You Wenzong with a smile and pointed the tip of his blade at the sand and gravel on the ground.

“Lord You, do you see anything strange about these sand and gravel?”

“...”

Although he didn't know what conspiracy Wei Changtian was playing again, You Wenzong still subconsciously looked down.

Gravel and yellow sand the size of fingernails were mixed on the surface of the loose soil, and at first glance, there was nothing unusual.

“Hmph!”

With a cold snort, You Wenzong was just about to speak.

But before he could say anything, he suddenly froze.

Because You Wenzong found that the sand and gravel under his feet seemed to be trembling slightly.

The amplitude of this tremor was very small, but it did exist, as if it was caused by thousands of troops galloping in the extreme distance.

However, intelligence showed that the Shu army had clearly passed Niutou Mountain and was heading towards Shu Prefecture, and the Dali reinforcements were mostly still on their way to Shu Prefecture!

Then where did these soldiers and horses come from?!

Looking at Wei Changtian with incomparable astonishment, You Wenzong suddenly bent down and lay on the ground, staring at the grains of sand and gravel with wide eyes, thinking that he had just seen it wrong.

But the facts proved that this was not an illusion.

Even as the amplitude of the sand and gravel's tremors became more and more obvious, and the muffled thunder-like “rumbling” sound from the distance became louder and louder, fear appeared in You Wenzong's eyes for the first time.

“How... how is this possible...”

Trembling, he grabbed a handful of sand and soil and, together with tens of thousands of soldiers who had also noticed something was wrong, turned his head to look west.

No matter what, You Wenzong couldn't understand how Wei Changtian had managed to “summon heavenly soldiers,” let alone where these soldiers and horses had come from.

It wasn't until Wei Changtian also bent down and squatted in front of him, leaning on the Leiying Blade, and said with a smile:

“Lord You, do you know what place is to the west?”

“...”

You Wenzong suddenly raised his head, and in just an instant, a nearly absurd guess popped up in his mind.

This was a possibility he had never thought of, simply because it was too unbelievable.

But at this moment, this seemed to be the only answer.

“The... the Ten Thousand Mountains...”

His Adam's apple bobbing, You Wenzong's voice trembled, and his expression was somewhat dull.

Wei Changtian looked at his appearance and asked with a smile:

“Then Lord You, what is there in the Ten Thousand Mountains?”

“Demons... demons! Impossible!”

You Wenzong shook his head violently, almost instinctively wanting to deny it.

However, before he could say his next words, he heard several terrified shouts suddenly coming from the distance.

The shouts were mixed with the sound of rapid hooves, and should have come from the scouts who were on guard around.

“Beast tide!!!”

“A beast tide is coming!!!!”

“Ah!!!!”

“...”

The shouts stopped abruptly at a certain moment, and the ground underfoot trembled even more violently, reaching a level that made it difficult to stand steady in just a few breaths.

You Wenzong looked at Wei Changtian with dazed eyes, watching the latter slowly stand up expressionlessly and gently raise the long blade in his hand.

In the distance, countless demons and beasts had already revealed their figures in the darkness, rolling in like a boundless black wave.

“Lord You, nothing is impossible.”

“Oh, please also convey this sentence to Ning Yongnian. Of course, that’s if you can live to see tomorrow’s sun.”

“...”

In his ears, Wei Changtian's last words were instantly drowned out.

Amidst the stunned gazes of everyone present, hundreds of golden rays suddenly burst forth, transforming into a golden dragon several dozen feet long.

This golden dragon, with its boundless aura, soared through the air a few times before leading the black tide of beasts, leaping forward and crashing into the military formation with a deafening roar.

The next day.

Great Ning Capital.

Wei Xianzhi leading a siege of the Imperial Palace, Great Feng surrendering, the rebel army encountering a beast tide.

In a mere three days, three major events had occurred in succession.

When earth-shattering news comes too frequently, the common people become somewhat immune, and thus are no longer as agitated as before.

Furthermore, although the army suffered considerable losses, it was said that only sixty to seventy thousand soldiers had died, which supposedly would not affect the overall war situation.

The only thing was that this beast tide had come rather strangely.

One must know that Great Ning had not experienced such a thing for hundreds of years; usually, people rarely even saw groups of demons, let alone a beast tide of this magnitude, gathering over a hundred thousand demonic beasts.

So, what was the cause of the beast tide? And why did it coincidentally collide with the imperial army?

Those with better connections claimed that this matter was inseparable from Wei Changtian, that he had colluded with a demon king, seeking to use the demon race to annihilate the imperial army.

Whether analyzed from existing evidence or motives, such a claim was very plausible, and thus the Great Ning populace's impression of Wei Changtian once again plummeted.

After all, rebellion is merely an internal conflict of the nation, and even colluding with foreign enemies like Great Li or Great Feng would at most be considered an internal conflict of the human race.

But to collude with the demon race, that would be an act of "racial betrayal"!

Therefore, except for Shu Province, the Great Ning populace almost universally cursed Wei Changtian, while also secretly rejoicing that the latter's scheme had failed.

However, for Ning Yongnian, he felt no sense of rejoicing at this moment.

"Nothing is impossible."

Repeatedly reciting the words that Wei Changtian had Yu Wenzong relay to him, the vermilion brush in his hand suddenly snapped in two with a "crack".

"So, this is your contingency plan?"

"I didn't underestimate you after all."

Mao Hour (5:00-7:00 AM), Shu Province.

Three hours had passed since the end of the beast tide, but the cleanup work was still ongoing, which was enough to show how tragic last night's battle had been.

Although Wei Changtian's statement of "kill everyone" had not been realized, the imperial army still paid the price of over sixty thousand casualties to kill all one hundred thousand attacking demonic beasts.

This was the biggest loss the imperial side had experienced since the start of the Battle of Shu Province; adding in the wounded, the army's fighting force instantly decreased from three hundred thousand to two hundred thousand after this battle.

Even though they still had an absolute advantage compared to the Shu army, if the Great Li reinforcements could all arrive in Shu Province, then the outcome of this war would truly become unpredictable.

Therefore, the next step of the army's actions became especially important.

So important, in fact, that it could no longer be decided by Han Zhao alone.

"General Han, has the Emperor not sent orders yet?"

In the main tent, Yu Wenzong, with a pale face, had asked this question for the third time in the past hour.

And Han Zhao shook his head for the third time as well.

"Lord Yu, the next course of action for the army is of great importance, so the Emperor naturally needs to consider it carefully."

"You were injured last night, why not go back and rest well? If there is news, I will inform you immediately."

"No need, I will wait here."

Shaking his head, Yu Wenzong did not move an inch, making it clear that he would wait until Ning Yongnian sent the latest instructions.

The tent flap swayed, and the smell of blood permeated the quiet tent.

In fact, it wasn't just Yu Wenzong who was waiting, Han Zhao was waiting as well.

Even Chu Xianping, far away at the Niutoushan Pass, and Wei Changtian, who was on his way to Niutoushan, were all waiting for Ning Yongnian's final choice.

"Da da da, da da da..."

On the official road a hundred miles away from last night's main battlefield, Wei Changtian was holding the reins with one hand, urging his horse forward, and tightly clutching a pair of jade tokens with the other, afraid of missing the information sent by Han Zhao.

Prematurely triggering the beast tide was all he could do.

According to the original plan, these one hundred thousand demonic beasts were originally supposed to wait until the imperial army was defeated and retreated from Niutoushan before suddenly attacking, giving the latter a fatal blow.

However, because Ning Yongnian suddenly wanted to change course to Jin Yuan, Wei Changtian had no choice but to advance this step.

Undoubtedly, the disadvantage of doing so was that the lethality of the beast tide was reduced to the lowest level, only consuming sixty thousand of the army's forces.

And the advantage was that it secured a chance for Ning Yongnian to change his mind again.

First of all, the beast tide had already appeared, so Ning Yongnian would most likely believe that there were no ambushes in Niutoushan.

Secondly, the loss of these sixty thousand soldiers of the imperial army also meant that Ning Yongnian had to end the battle as soon as possible before the Great Li reinforcements arrived in Shu Province.

Going along the Jin Yuan line at this time would be too slow, and the Great Li reinforcements would definitely arrive.

Therefore, if Ning Yongnian wanted to maintain his advantage in strength, he had to go through Niutoushan.

Of course, he also had another option, which was to fight a war of attrition.

However, this was definitely not what Wei Changtian wanted to see.

Facing the setting sun, the shadow of the warhorse was stretched very long.

Wei Changtian rode silently forward, and then suddenly widened his eyes slightly at a certain moment.

Nearly four hours had passed, and the jade tokens finally became hot again!

Ning Yongnian had sent orders to Han Zhao!

Subconsciously holding his breath, Wei Changtian did not take out the codebook, but just tightly grasped the jade tokens.

In order to facilitate Han Zhao's transmission of information, he had already told the latter in advance.

One jade burn meant that Ning Yongnian ordered an on-the-spot rest.

Two jade burns meant that the army would still change course to Jin Yuan.

Three jade burns meant that the army would go to Niutoushan.

...

The smooth jade body in his hand became hot and then cooled down, once.

After a breath, a second time...

The sun, like a ball of fire, rolled behind the Western Mountains, leaving a glow of sunset on the horizon.

Several birds were flying towards the afterglow of the sunset, as if they wanted to fly up to the Nine Heavens to see what was there.

Wei Changtian had never felt that a breath could be so long.

The jade tokens in his palm suddenly became hot again.

The third time.